How to Get Xbox and PlayStation Updates Before Christmas
When Christmas comes around, a bunch of people will open up brand new Xbox or PlayStation consoles, plug them in, and wait for giant system updates to be downloaded and installed. Depending on how many active gamers subscribe to Microsoft or Sony services to receive updates or play new games, this process may take longer than usual if one of the company’s servers feel overwhelmed.
Fortunately, you don’t need to download multi-gigabyte updates for the console at the same time as other users. In fact, you can download the latest system software for Microsoft and Sony consoles right now .
How to create and run Xbox offline updates
First, you need a USB stick. Make sure it is at least 4 GB in size and formatted as an NTFS volume. (You can do this by right-clicking the USB drive in File Explorer and choosing Format, or by opening Disk Utility on your Mac.)
Visit Microsoft site and select your console. If you have a newer console, you will immediately be taken to the page where you can download the latest offline system update (named ” OSU1 “). If you have an original Xbox One console, you’ll need to jump through a few more hoops – for example, checking if you can perform a system update offline using the built-in Xbox startup troubleshooter – which could then lead you to download alternatives. Offline system update versions (for example, “OSU2” or “OSU3”).
From there, the upgrade process is not overly complicated. For example, if you are trying to update your Xbox One S or Xbox One X, you need to unzip this OSU1 archive and copy the “$ SystemUpdate” file to the root of your USB drive. (As Microsoft warns: “The files should be copied to the root directory and there should be no other files on the flash drive.”)
Then you power off and unplug your console, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in, and press and hold the Bind and Eject buttons. Doing so will then turn on your console using the Xbox button. Hold Bind and Eject until you hear two power-on beeps as described by Microsoft. Let go of the buttons and you should load into the Xbox Startup Troubleshooter. Almost done, I promise.
Connect the USB drive to an available USB port on the console, select the active setting “Offline system updates” and allow copying.
How to create and run offline updates for PlayStation 4
As before, you’ll need a USB stick with enough space to store the latest system update – currently 460MB for a system update, or 1.1GB for a complete reinstallation of the PlayStation 4 system software. (I’d do the first if you’ve already configured your system and just need the latest updates, and second, if you’re starting with a brand new, never touched console.) Format it as a FAT32 volume, not NTFS.
Visit the Sony website and download either the update file or the latest version of the complete system software. Create a “PS4” folder on your USB drive and then create an “UPDATE” folder in it. Yes, capitalization is important. Drag the file you are downloading, which should be named “UPDATE.PSP” or “PS4UPDATE.PUP”, into the Update folder.
If you’re just updating your PlayStation 4 and not reinstalling all of the system software, you only need to plug your USB drive into your console and go to Settings> System Software Update. How simple it is.
If you’re reinstalling system software, turn off your PlayStation 4 (I would turn it off just in case). Insert the USB stick and turn the PlayStation 4 back on while holding the power button “for at least seven seconds,” Sony recommends that you start the console in Safe Mode . Select the “Initialize PS4 (reinstall system software)” option and you’re done.